In 2017, I organised the very first Measurement Day conference in Copenhagen. It was an idea inspired by the 2016 ‘Effekt Agenda’ conference put on by the later bankrupt and closed Danish Communicators’ Association (DKF). Effekt Agenda was supposed to have been an annual event, putting measurement and evaluation front and centre in the communication and PR industry, but alas the DKF closed down just a few months after the 2016 event.
Since 2017, I have managed to organise a total of four conferences (in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021), but this year’s event will be the last with me as the organiser. Sadly, I have come to realise that organising a complete conference every year as a 1-man company is unsustainable. It is too hard, too risky, too stressful and too uneconomic for any one person to bear on his or her shoulders.
So, I am officially retiring the conferences following this week’s event in Copenhagen.
Wanting to change the industry from within
When I started Measurement Day, I believed – as I believe today – that our industry, the communication industry, is forever stuck is a staff function role until we start actively taking charge and work our way to a much more strategically important position within our organisations.
That requires facing some tough truths: Most communicators are operating in the dark as to whether or not they are truly providing value to their organisations – helping them achieve business or organisational goals. Most communicators are stuck with vanity metrics – counting stuff of little or no importance – and unable to account for how they are moving the needle in a meaningful way – affecting the hearts and minds of their target audiences.
Part of the solution is to educate and inspire more people to embrace the opportunities that communication measurement and evaluation can provide – opportunities to demonstrate value creation and to learn and grow from experience.
Measurement Days was born with that mission in mind – we showcased the best case examples from companies and organisations who had created value and helped their organisation reach measurable goals and objectives.
The Measurement Day mission lives on
I am not entirely sure what I am going to do now. All I know is that I still feel passionate about the mission that we set out on in 2017. So I will continue along that path. I just need to figure out what sort of format is most appropriate and at the same time doable with the resources of a 1-man company. And the best way to bridge it with my other consulting activities.
Earlier this spring, we organised four Virtual Measurement Day events using an online conference platform called Airmeet, and it inspired me to perhaps do more along those lines in the future. I still prefer live, physical events to virtual ones, but I have learned to appreciate the upside of the virtual formats if done properly and with focus on the audience experience.
The Measurement Day website will live on, but as a collection of videos and photos celebrating the good times we had and preserving many of the great case stories and excellent speakers we got to hear over the years. All my future activities will revolve around just the Quantum brand and company, and the Measurement Day brand as well as the company will be retired.
Thank you for all the support
In closing, I should like to take a moment to thank a few people for their continuous support for Measurement Day over the past five years:
Alan Malligsen and Retriever Denmark for their devotion to our mission and never-ending encouragement. Retriever is a company that shares our ideals and the mission we dedicated ourselves to. They were the main sponsor of the events throughout all the years and without their support it would have been impossible to create this level of success.
Kasper Ibsen Beck from Arla – not only did he delight us twice as a speaker, but Kasper also helped out in an advisory capacity and provided counsel, encouragement and perspective as well as ideas on how to improve and move forward.
And of course also, Andreas Wittrup Willadsen and Axion, who have been my invaluable technical support team, producing live streams and videos and generally just taking care of all the aspects that were way too complex for me to grasp.
My final thanks goes to you – the fans, the audience, the attendees. All of you who have told me how much Measurement Day has meant to you, how it has inspired you and encouraged you to be bold and try new things with measurement and evaluation of your communication. Your feedback has warmed my heart, and I hope you will follow us to whereever this journey will take us next.
Thank you all.
Leave a Reply